(“Then it’s settled: I’ll win the first fight, you’ll win the rematch, and Chael will win the rubber-match via surprise run-in after blinding the referee.”)

During our typical mid-afternoon routine of checking out Brazilian porn sites sport sites and using Google translate to help us out with comprehension — some Brazilian things don’t need translation, but some do — we stumbled across the latest vague and too-good-to-be-true Anderson Silva fight news. Recently, we had a tease about Silva finally fighting the rightful number one contender to his belt, and yesterday we read that, according to “The Spider,” he wants to face UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones this year.

SportTV says that last Wednesday Anderson told a bunch of Brazilian cats that he expects to fight Jones this year in New York City but that the bout would need to be a non-title, catch-weight affair. Apparently, fighting James Irvin, Stephan Bonnar, and former champ Forrest Griffin at light-heavyweight is one thing, but fighting the biggest and best talent we’ve ever seen in the division at 205 is another.

Given that nothing appears to be signed and that Jones has the small matter of defending his belt first against wronged pizza baron Chael Sonnen this spring, we can’t get too excited about this development. Still, Anderson’s reported comments paint him as perhaps more amenable to a fight against Jones than he has ever been before.

We’re less than one month away from UFC 158, where welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre will take on Nick Diaz in a fight we’ve been waiting almost eighteen months to see. At this point, it’s too late for a petty disagreement to cancel this fight. Nothing short of an act of God is going to stop this fight from finally happening, which is obviously great news when Nick Diaz is involved, because once again, Diaz has apparently been no-showing his media obligations.

At least that’s what Dana White had to say during the post-event press conference for yesterday’s UFC on FUEL TV 7. According to him, everyone’s favorite welterweight from the 209 hasn’t been showing up for Countdown tapings. This also explains why Nick Diaz vs. GSP didn’t get its own UFC Primetime episodes even though the much less interesting bout between Rousey vs. Carmouche did; Primetime requires much more effort from the fighters being profiled to film. As Dana White said yesterday (transcribed by MMAWeekly):

“Nick Diaz would be an interesting Countdown show, too,” White shot back
sarcastically, “if we could get him to show up for those.

(It’s good to be king)

Here at CagePotato, if we’re going to take the time to put together a rankings or list, it’s probably going to be one like this one. That doesn’t mean, however, that we’re opposed to taking part in others’ rankings. Take, for example, the Yahoo! Sports Top 10 MMA Pound for Pound Rankings, the voting for which is done by a panel that includes many luminaries of the MMA journalism community and also, for some unknown reason, me.

The latest Yahoo! Sports Top 10 list was released this week (panel voting and publication of the rankings are done monthly) and there are some familiar faces as well as some changes. Anderson Silva maintained his long-time top spot, followed by Jon Jones and then Georges St. Pierre in the number three spot.

Cain Velasquez made it back on to the list after beating Junior Dos Santos in their recent return bout. A number of notable fighters were not eligible for the list because of inactivity (Dominick Cruz, Alistair Overeem) and suspension (Nick Diaz, Overeem again).

Jose Aldo was eligible because he is fighting so close to the end of voting, and he took the number four spot. The rankings may soon get shaken up again after tonight’s UFC 156.

Frankie Edgar drops down to featherweight to try and take out Aldo. Would Aldo get a bump in the rankings by beating a former lightweight champ? Would Edgar skyrocket in the rankings if were to win a championship in a second weight class?

Also, will Overeem justify the media’s crush on him with an impressive fight against BigFoot that will propel him into the Top 10? Check out the full rankings Top 10 after the jump and then let us know your Top 10 in the comments section.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz will be in attendance this morning for the first UFC 158 press-conference at the Bell Centre in Montreal, hyping their March 16th welterweight title fight. According to MMAJunkie, Diaz has successfully made a flight to Montreal — yes, this is actually newsworthy — which means we hopefully won’t have a repeat of the no-shows that got him fired from UFC 137. Will Diaz be openly confrontational now that he’s face to face with his least-favorite Canadian? Or will he just do his vaguely hostile mumbly thing? Watch the headliners field questions from media in the video player above, beginning at 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT, and please share your insights in the comments section.

Previously:
- Of Course Nick Diaz Isn’t Returning Dana White’s Phone Calls
- UFC 158 Odds: Georges St. Pierre Opens as a 4-1 Favorite Over Nick Diaz
- St. Pierre Explains Why He’s Fighting Diaz at UFC 158; Hendricks to Face Jake Ellenberger

(Props: fueltv)

Every once in a while, videos come out that you wish were a little longer. Usually, they include this chick. Others, however, contain candid and inside looks into the lives and mindsets of top fighters. A new one released by Fuel TV called “UFC Roundtable Welterweights” is one of those videos.

Our favorite fitness guru and MMA coach Jay Glazer sat down with four legends — BJ Penn, Renzo Gracie, Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra — to discuss the psychology of pre-fight moments like stare downs, warm ups, and the walk to the cage/ring. Given all the heat and history between most of these guys, it was cool to see them sit next to one another and seemingly enjoy what the others had to say.

St. Pierre, for example, waxed sports-psychologist philosophical about how he turns his fear into courage, and even his two-time nemesis Serra was impressed. Penn gushed about how Renzo was the one guy who didn’t look away from him during a stare down. I guess time and everyone being rich has a way of healing old wounds.

- Elias Cepeda

I know this barely constitutes news at this point, but being that anything even hinting at Ronda Rousey seems to be a big hit on this site (mainly so you readers can take a steaming dump on her in the comments section), I am going to set my journalistic integrity — a term I just stumbled across on Wikipedia — aside for the moment and pass along Rousey’s words in regard to another hot topic around here: Canadians. Specifically, how Canadians will love anything that is Canadian because it is Canadian, and how that relates to current welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre.

Rousey recently spoke with The Las Vegas Review Journal and once again went at the champ, who she has been bashing for years now:

Everybody keeps coming up to me and saying, ‘Oh, do you think if you didn’t look such a way, people would like you so much?’ I’m like, ‘Dude, if GSP was butt ugly, you wouldn’t want to know who he is so much.’ I think he lucked out a lot that he’s Canadian. I love Canadians. They are the coolest, nicest, most patriotic people, and they will support their countrymen no matter what, and I think that’s commendable. But if GSP wasn’t really good-looking, and really Canadian, he would be really unknown.

(“Oh, Georges, you couldn’t pull off a mean mug if you tried. Your eyes, they just have too much…soul in them.”)

You might not know this about the CagePotato writing staff, but not a one of us is a UFC-caliber fighter. Sure, Elias lays boots to asses every now and again and Goldstein once slapped Bas Rutten in public and lived to tell the tale, but none of us here at CP have ever had a situation arise where we forced to fight one of our fellow writers for the right to be called “King of the Mountain.” So maybe we’re not the correct sources to come to when discussing whether teammates in a given MMA camp should be more open to fighting one another or not. Then again, none of us (to my knowledge) have ever been busted for steroids before, yet we’re perfectly fine casting our respective opinions toward those who have, so here we go.

This whole “Fighter X won’t fight Teammate Y” nonsense is out of control. Rory MacDonald won’t fight GSP. Cain Velasquez won’t fight Daniel Cormier. Anderson Silva won’t fight anyone who doesn’t wear a kimono and firing range goggles 24/7. It’s getting ridiculous. Simply put, if you are unable to separate your personal life from your professional one in the fight game, then you probably shouldn’t be involved in the fight game. MMA is not a team sport, especially when a title shot and thousands of dollars are on the line.

Thankfully, guys like Dan Henderson are still around — old school, take-on-all-comers-even-if-that-means-fighting-at-heavyweight type guys who would fight their bedridden aunt for the last slice of pizza if she dared call dibs on it first. Ever since Hendo blew out his knee and was passed over for the next light heavyweight title shot by Chael Sonnen, things have been rather tense over at Team Quest, to the point that Hendo recently told FightersOnly that he would no doubt fight Sonnen now that he’s a LHW:

We’re friends, but above all we fight now in the same category and therefore have the same goal. We both compete for the same belt.

Read More ADD COMMENTS (17) DIGG THIS

(Props: MiddleEasyTV)

Remember when Nick Diaz was booked for the biggest fight of his career in a title shot against Georges St. Pierre, but then decided to no-show two days in a row for media events? Or when he lost an interim title bout to Carlos Condit, was offered an immediate rematch but then couldn’t do the fight because he got high?

Well, we do, and chances are Diaz does as well since he’s been sitting on the sidelines for nearly a year serving out his most recent marijuana-related drug suspension. So it surprised us to hear that Diaz, who is receiving a world title shot for the third consecutive time despite coming off of a loss and failed drug test suspension, still seems to be walking the line with the UFC and its President Dana White.

MiddleEasy recently spoke with White and asked him if he expected Diaz to make good on his pre-event promotion commitments this time around before his scheduled fight with St. Pierre at UFC 158. “He’s been sitting out so long. This is a fight that he wanted. He really wanted this fight to happen and Georges St. Pierre called him out. He’s getting it. So, yes, I expect Diaz to be there,” White said.

When asked if he had actually received such an assurance from Diaz himself, however, Diaz said that he had not even spoken with the fighter recently despite reaching out to him. “I have not. Nick Diaz doesn’t return my calls, texts, nothing,” he said.

(Official book trailer via poundforpoundmma)

CagePotato contributor Brian J. D’Souza has spent years covering MMA around the world, interviewing some of the most compelling personalities in the sport. His new book Pound for Pound: The Modern Gladiators of Mixed Martial Arts focuses on five MMA legends — Georges St-Pierre, BJ Penn, Anderson Silva, Mauricio Rua, and Fedor Emelianenko — taking readers through their humble origins, rise to fame, and the daily agonies that fans never get to see. It’s a fascinating first-hand look behind the curtain, from a journalist who completely immersed himself in the sport in order to return with some never-before-told stories. We’re thrilled that our good friend Brian was able to pull this thing off, and we highly recommend that you check it out for yourself.

We’ve excerpted the intro and first two chapters of Pound for Pound after the jump, which cover Georges St. Pierre’s unlikely emergence as an MMA contender, and how Wagnney Fabiano and Victor Vargotsky became critical to his early development. Take a look, and if you want more, please buy a copy at one of the links below.

Paperback:
- www.amazon.com/Pound-Modern-Gladiators-Mixed-Martial/dp/0988149303
- www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pound-for-pound-brian-dsouza/1114013524

eBook:
- www.amazon.com/Pound-Modern-Gladiators-Martial-ebook/dp/B00AQPZGE4
- www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pound-for-pound-brian-dsouza/1114013524
- www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Pound-Pound-The-Modern-Gladiators/book-N7TYdIt2qUinoo4aMGe0qA/page1.html
- www.smashwords.com/books/view/266927

Nick Diaz fans, it’s time to put your money where your stinkin’ mouths are. MMAFighting gives us the heads-up that UFC 158‘s main event just opened up with Georges St. Pierre as a -430 favorite, and Diaz as a +310 underdog. In other words, a $100 bet on Diaz would net you a $310 profit should the challenger win on March 16th, enough to buy you some of that good weed.

The only other UFC 158 fight that currently has odds attached to it is the co-main event between Carlos Condit and Rory MacDonald, in which Condit is listed as a slight underdog — you can find him as high as +145 — despite the fact that he won their first meeting by late TKO in June 2010. Maybe the oddsmakers got a little too excited about MacDonald’s stomping of a past-his-prime BJ Penn when they set the line. Sure, Condit was taking a beating before his comeback knockout of Rory, but he’s certainly capable of doing the same thing again. Your thoughts, please.

But back to the main event — I feel like some of these betting sites should offer wagers on if Diaz will actually make it to the fight without anything stupid happening. And speaking of which, it seems like the booking of Hendricks vs. Ellenberger on the same card as GSP vs. Diaz is the UFC’s insurance policy against just such an occurance. As Dana White explained:

About a month ago, the UFC’s welterweight title picture cleared up after nearly two years of confusion. Champion Georges St. Pierre returned after a long injury-induced lay off to face and beat interim champion Carlos Condit and Johny Hendricks stopped Martin Kampmann to establish himself as the clear number one contender to the St. Pierre’s belt.

Despite this, St. Pierre lobbied to face the suspended Nick Diaz, who had a shot against St. Pierre but then gave it because of, you know, reasons, lost to Carlos Condit and then tested positive for marijuana metabolites. Diaz will indeed get another crack at St. Pierre on March 16th in Montreal, assuming he decides to pick up a phone for media conference calls and make all his flights, and Hendricks will risk his earned #1 contender status against Jake Ellenberger on the same night.

Speaking to MMA Fighting this weekend, Hendricks said that the UFC made him take the Ellenberger fight and stuck to his “Georges is running scared,” line. “Man, he’s scared,” Hendricks said.

(“Perfect, Rory, now we can finally finish our conversation about Huey Lewis and the News that you are always going on about.”) 

Rory MacDonald has the kind of lifeless, black eyes that would make Dr. Sam Loomis shiver at night. For an example of this, see his post-fight call-out of Carlos Condit at UFC on FOX 5, in which he delivered a speech so precise and monotone that it begged audiences to ask whether or not he had practiced it over and over and over again on the collection of flesh-covered marionettes he keeps locked in that one room in his house with a deadbolt on the door.

Obviously shaken up by MacDonald’s speech was that of Dana White, who, fearing he would end up as a bald cap on one of those marionettes, caved into Rory’s demands faster than the French in insert war of your choice here. So just five days out from his dominant win over B.J. Penn, MacDonald has already been booked to rematch the ironically-nicknamed “Natural Born Killer” in Condit at UFC 158 in Montreal. The man responsible for both MacDonald’s only professional loss and the shrine of hair and blood samples that looms over the Canadian’s fireplace, Condit is fresh off a title-losing bid to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 154. Condit and MacDonald first met at UFC 115, where despite stealing the first two rounds, “Ares” found himself eating elbow sammiches for the majority of the third until referee Kevin Dornan called a stop to the bout with just seven seconds remaining. It is no coincidence that Kevin Dornan has been missing ever since.

And speaking of people getting exactly what they wanted, it looks like GSP will likely be defending his title against rival Nick Diaz at the same event, although according to Dana White, the “deal isn’t done yet.” Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, confirmed that the former Strikeforce welterweight champion has been offered the bout, but if you ask us, we’d recommend that you save your excitement for the moment these two are actually staring at each other from across the cage. Celebrating before that is simply setting yourself up for disappointment.

In other fight booking news…

(Highly advanced photo-simulation via CagedInsider. We’re living in the future, people.)

Despite Johny Hendricks seemingly clinching his position as the UFC’s #1 welterweight contender with his recent knockout of Martin Kampmann, Georges St. Pierre will next defend his title against a guy coming off a loss and a year-long suspension — and the champion actually wants it that way. Ariel Helwani was first to break news (via twitter) that GSP’s next opponent will be Nick Diaz, on word from Dana White himself:

Dana just said GSP told him I want Nick Diaz. Dana said that’s probably the fight we’ll make. Dana said that GSP doesn’t ask for much, so he feels like he has to do it. Silva and Hendricks will have to wait.

Diaz’s last Octagon appearance resulted in a somewhat controversial decision loss to Carlos Condit during their interim welterweight title fight in February. Afterwards, Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites in a post-fight drug test, and caught a year-long time-out. Diaz has been on the sidelines ever since, waiting, planning, talking mad shit. And now his big opportunity has arrived again, which he hopefully won’t blow this time. Meanwhile another contender has spent the last 12 months actually fighting people and winning — LOL, what a sucker! — beating three of the UFC’s toughest welterweight contenders in the process.

As you can imagine, Hendricks isn’t too happy with all of this…

When the UFC makes budget cuts to put a fight together, the marketing department is the first place to feel the impact. Props: jinxonhog.

According to the welterweight champion, the answer is “no.” Or rather, not nearly as much as has been rumored.

On yesterday’s edition of The MMA Beat, Mike Straka of Fight Now TV reported that a source close to the welterweight champion told him that GSP was asking the UFC for $50 million to fight Anderson Silva.

Despite the fact that St-Pierre is currently on vacation in France, he dismissed the rumor during a recent conversation with 985Sports.ca. In his own words:

(Ain’t no tantrum like a Big Rigg tantrum)

In the whole welterweight/middleweight title/super-fight mess of excitment and speculation going on right now, number one 170 pound contender Johny Hendricks is one of the few people giving real talk. “I’m not going to fight unless it’s for a belt,” Hendricks told MMAJunkie Radio Friday.

The former NCAA Division I wrestling national champion solidified himself as the number one contender to Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight crown with five straight wins, his last three against Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Martin Kampmann. Despite earning his shot, Hendricks is far from a lock to be the next one to fight St. Pierre.

Middleweight champion Anderson Silva is chasing a super fight with the Canadian and St. Pierre surrogates are lobbying for his next fight to be against his rival Nick Diaz. Diaz is currently serving a suspension for testing positive for marijuana metabolites before his last fight, a loss to Carlos Condit.

(Being the ‘King of PPV’ has its perks. Photo via CombatLifestyle)

It is no wonder Dana White called Georges St. Pierre the “King of Pay Per View” (PPV) on a conference call tuesday. UFC 154, which featured the return of the welterweight champion, succesfully defending his title against interim champ Carlos Condit, did anywhere between 680,000 to 700,000 buys, according to Dave Meltzer.

Meltzer has used industry sources to report PPV buy estimates reliably and accurately for years. In his latest column for MMA Fighting, Meltzer says that the St. Pierre vs. Condit event was the third-highest performing PPV for the organization this year, behind only UFC 148 which featured Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II, and UFC 145 which was headlined by Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans.

Both UFC 148 and 145 were centered on intense and well-publicized rivalries. UFC 154′s success can likely be attributed more singularly to the personal popularity of the returning Georges St. Pierre. As Meltzer explains:

(The “doctor” in question. No joke, this is seriously the guy we’re talking about. / Props: Blog do Olivar)

In the U.S., a doctor is simply the person you visit when you need more prescription medication. In Brazil, a doctor is a parent, priest, and boss rolled into one — they know what’s best for you, and damned if you’ll try to defy them.

At least that’s how it seems lately. Two weeks after Cris Cyborg explained that she couldn’t possibly cut ten pounds of her freakish muscle mass because DOCTOR’S ORDERS, we have this translated report by Eduardo Cruz at FightersOnly, in which Anderson Silva‘s “personal physician” [Ed. note: referred here only as 'Camoes,' but we'll get to that after the jump] had a lot to say about Silva dropping a weight class to face Georges St. Pierre at 170, which is something that I didn’t think was even being considered by anybody, but nevertheless:

“It would be a crime for Anderson to try and fight at 77kg. He could maybe make the weight but the physical loss that he would suffer would be too much…For me this fight should happen at 80kg, since that would already be a sacrifice for Anderson. It would be his first shot at this weight and we would have to implement a very specific work for him to be able to perform at 100% of his capacity…Anderson losing 3gk and St-Pierre going up 3kg would be more fair for both of them and for the public, who would watch a great fight.”

(Props: brakus73)

Years ago, my dad saw a young Georges St. Pierre fight before I did. When I finally got a chance to see GSP in action, I agreed with my dad that he was like some Jean Claude Van Damme movie character come to life, what with his crazy kicks and foreign accent.

How awesome and funny would it be if Van Damme and his real fighter counterpart ever met, we laughed. Turns out, it’s just creepy.

Van Damme spent some time in Montreal with St. Pierre before UFC 154 working out, which is captured in this new video that he produced. We give Van Damme credit for being an actual athlete and for staying in amazing shape — and for, more than likely, being able to kick our asses — but he is creeping into Steven Seagal territory with this video.

While no one can approach the arrogance and outright fabrications of Seagal, Van Damme’s video does include a highlight reel mixing him acting in movies and St. Pierre fighting in real life. Ok, for writers of a certain age (mine) who grew up loving Van Damme movies, short-short splits on counter tops and all, the highlight reel is kind of dope.

Then you realize, “wait, is he actually drawing parallels between his movie roles and St. Pierre?” All that we can forgive the fifty-something actor. It is understandable that a Hollywood actor would try to get attention by jumping on to the MMA bandwagon. Van Damme also seems to be a legit fan of the sport and its athletes. It’s just that he may be too much of a fan of its athletes. Remember his creepy attempted make-out session with Fedor a few years ago?

(Diaz, seen here preparing the only gameplan that hasn’t been thwarted by Anderson Silva in the octagon yet. And no, that’s definitely not a hash pipe next to the dartboard. Props be to MiddleEasy.) 

Nick Diaz may be a shortsighted, virulent, pot smoking, press conference-skipping delinquent who didn’t go to college for buying houses, but damn it, we can’t help but love the guy’s “take on all comers” attitude when it comes to fighting. Blame it on the increased popularity of the sport, the ridiculous string of injuries, or whatever you want, but suffice it to say, the Diaz mentality of accepting fights is a fading one. It seems we can’t go a day without hearing that so and so turned down a fight with this guy, or that this champion will maybe fight this one under a ridiculous set of circumstances, and honestly, this prima donna nonsense has all but completely quelled our interest in seeing the “superfights” we would have killed for just a couple months ago.

But before you jump down our throats, we (or at least I) do not blame Georges St. Pierre for turning down the Anderson Silva fight. Because like GSP said, there are still several viable contenders in his division and he is just coming off an 18 month layoff. Plus, if Anderson wants to fight the smaller man, he should pony the fuck up and drop down to his weight class. And since Silva is (for whatever reason) dead set on fighting a smaller opponent next, Cesar Gracie recently threw Diaz’s name into the fold as a potential future opponent, because why the hell not at this point:

We’re pushing for the GSP fight. That’s what we’re going to push for, GSP or Anderson Silva. That’s the two fights that interest us the most, and that’s the one’s we’re going for.[Silva's] people are into it. We’re into it. The fans, I think, would be into it. We’ve got convince Dana about it now. Obviously the fight that makes sense to them, and I don’t disagree, is Anderson-GSP, and like I said, I would watch that fight. That would be great to watch. But let’s get real. If GSP just absolutely says no, then what? You can’t make a guy fight. That’s the thing. And Anderson, if they want to promote a superfight and if the stars align, I think Nick would be into it.

(You should have gotten after him when you had the chance, Anderson. / Photo via Ric Fogel @ ESPN)

It appears that Georges St. Pierre wants to fight Anderson Silva about as bad as ‘The Spider’ wants to fight Jon Jones. That is to say, not at all, right now. We were told by UFC Prez Dana White that should the welterweight champ beat Carlos Condit as he did at UFC 154, he would take on the Brazilian middleweight king next, but St. Pierre revealed all of that to be a cruel tease recently while on Radio-Canada’s Tout Le Monde en Parle, or, Everyone is Talking as we’d say here in civilization. MMA Fighting had the translation.

“[The Anderson Silva] fight is the cherry on the sundae,” St. Pierre explained. “[Silva] wants to fight me so he can then retire. I would like to fight him too, but after I fight him and win the fight, what happens next? These days, yeah, there’s a lot of money to be made, but I don’t fight for the money. My motivation is to be the best. Like we said, to be the Wayne Gretzky of my sport. So if I fight him, what happens next? It will be over. So yes, I want the fight, but I want to take it when I decide the time is right, not when he wants the fight to happen.”

St. Pierre doesn’t want to move at Silva’s schedule just because he’s champion of a lighter division, even though Silva would appear to be much closer to retirement at age 37 than St. Pierre is. Speaking of weight differences, St. Pierre has appeared to have gotten some specific intel on just how much heavier Silva is than him.

More on that, as well as the complete video interview with St. Pierre wearing sunglasses and sipping wine, you know, just to emphasize the whole French thing, after the jump.

(Video via MMA Fighting)

There was a period of time, back around 2004-2005, when folks spoke about a young welterweight named Georges St. Pierre as if it were inevitable that the Canadian would one day be the welterweight champion of the world. These days, the same type of hype surrounds St. Pierre’s training partner Rory MacDonald.

Rory will be fighting BJ Penn next on the UFC on Fox 5 card but is so good and so young that he constantly has to answer the question of whether or not he’d fight his Tri-Star stablemate St. Pierre.

Before last week’s UFC 154 in his home town of Montreal, MacDonald answered questions from fans. If you hear past Rory’s dry delivery and watch the whole session (above) you’ll be treated to an earnest sounding kid, both full of confidence and hard on himself (for example, he refers to his loss to Condit as getting his ass kicked instead of losing at the very end of a fight he was previously winning).

MacDonald believes with certainty that he will become the welterweight champion one day but says that “me and Georges are not going to fight.”

(Unless you plan on “purging” that, Anderson, you may need to switch your diet up a bit to make 170 pounds)

It never really becomes crystal clear if we’re getting closer to MMA’s two best pound-for-pound fighters fighting one another or further away from it. UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva has finally warmed to the idea of fighting welterweight king Georges St. Pierre, six years after each man won their first world titles.

Well, Silva has more than warmed to the idea. He’s practically begging for the fight.

He even hijacked St. Pierre and Carlos Condit’s special Primetime moment to lobby for the bout. The much smaller St. Pierre, however, doesn’t seem to like the idea of fighting Anderson nearly as much.

GSP has only gone so far as to wonder out loud if Silva could once again make the welterweight limit, and his head coach has said he’d only want his charge taking the bout if it was at welterweight, not at a heavier catch weight, as Silva’s camp has suggested in the past.

Alright, let’s say that GSP gets his way and Anderson gets on a Machinist diet and gets down to welterweight…unlikely but if he did we could get more than a “legacy fight.” We’d get an honest to goodness, here and now title fight.

Well, don’t you worry your pretty lil head about that exciting possibility. UFC President Dana White is here to dampen your enthusiasm.

When asked last Saturday if GSP’s belt would be on the line if “The Spider” came down in weight to fight him, White replied, “Probably not, because I don’t know how many times Anderson would actually defend it.”

Great. So if St. Pierre gets his wish he’d be fighting an emaciated Silva who wouldn’t even have the incentive of getting a hold of another title belt if he earned it with a win.

Unless Uncle Dana was just being crazy like a match-making fox. Hear me out.

(“First off, I’d like to thank my brother, Thor, for if he hadn’t transmitted the power of his hammer into my left hand, none of this would have been possible.” Photo courtesy of Getty Images.) 

The UFC has never been an organization that takes pride in its subtlety. The same can be said about Dana White. So when they forced one of their cameramen to spend the entirety of the incredible GSP/Condit fight shooting Anderson Silva’s reactions (and Lyoto’s pedostache), you’d have to be pretty thick-skulled to not realize what they were angling at. However, GSP’s hesitance to commit to the fight, combined with Johny Hendricks’s brutal declaration of #1 contendership, have seemingly put a halt on these superfight rumors, if only temporarily.

In either case, we figured we would dedicate one post as the official battlegrounds for this debate, with you, the most distinguished and intelligent audience an MMA blog could ever ask for. So join us after the jump to vote on the poll that dares to ask: Who should Georges St. Pierre fight next now that he has successfully put the kibosh on this whole interim champ/actual champ nonsense? After you’ve finished voting, make your case in the comments section, using as much profane language, personal attacks, and outright trolling attempts as possible. Seriously, we kind of miss that stuff, so don’t get soft on us Taters.

(The lumpy, discolored face of victory. / Photo via Esther Lin @ MMAFighting)

By George Shunick

UFC 154 wasn’t the first time I’ve attended a UFC event. It wasn’t even the first time I’ve attended one at the Bell Centre. (That would be UFC 113, when Mauricio “Shogun” Rua emphatically put an end to the Machida Era.) But with Georges St. Pierre fighting — returning from a serious knee injury, no less — this card was a special experience. Not to say it didn’t have its flaws — the decisions got to be a bit much after a while, Alessio Sakara managed to get himself disqualified, and Tom Lawlor managed to get himself robbed. Still, the atmosphere of the crowd, Johny Hendricks’ knockout of Martin Kampmann and the finale, in which St. Pierre withstood the most adversity he’s faced in years, more than made up for it.

I was seated a few rows above the exit ramp, where the fighters made their way backstage following their fights. It provided me a great view of the action, the fighters as they walked by, and Dan Hardy’s mohawk. Hardy was in attendance, and made frequent trips back and forth between cageside and backstage. So, consider it official: Dan Hardy pees a lot. Maybe. Also seen frequenting the backstage area were Brittney Palmer and Arianny Celeste, both of whom are (quickly) escorted out after the third round commences in each fight, and Bruce Buffer, who was rather short. I also managed to catch Ben Fowlkes walking down towards cageside and yelled after him, but whether my voice was lost in the din of the crowd or Fowlkes is just terrified of being associated with CagePotato yet again, I cannot say. (It’s definitely the latter.)

The Canadian crowd was pretty solid throughout. They’re not quite as partisan as the Brazilian crowds, but damn if they don’t cheer their fighters on — even if they don’t know who those fighters are. I suspect no one there knew who Ontario’s own Antonio Carvalho was. (I also suspect I was part of this group.) They occasionally boo too early, but in general they seemed fairly knowledgeable. Unfortunately, that generalization did not apply to the group sitting directly behind me, who complained that Chad Griggs was matched up unfairly with Cyrille Diabate — he was, but not because he was “tiny” — and were under the impression that an armbar was “a wrestling move.”

After every UFC event, there is a press conference where some of the main fighters are brought out to field questions from the media in attendance. While over the course of a presser you are bound to get many of the same questions repeated in slightly different ways by media members, they are always still interesting to watch if only because of the unique moment and that there are usually at least a few insightful comments given.

For example, in last night’s UFC 154 post presser we hear from and see a bruised, cut and battered Georges St. Pierre talk about how he feels just a few minutes after a successful long-awaited return bout that he once feared would never happen. We also see his beaten opponent, Carlos Condit, still eloquent though despondent after coming so close to realizing his professional dream only to have it violently taken from him by the returning champion.

Above we bring you just about the full presser from last night (it cuts out after about two minutes. When it does, go ahead and fast forward to about the 7:30 mark and it picks back up). Dana White and a few other fighters are also in attendance.

GSP discusses not finishing fights, ring rust, Anderson Silva and Johny Hendricks. Condit says how close he feels he was to beating St. Pierre in the third round and about making another title run in the future.

For those that like their information less complete and quicker, check out an additional video with highlights of St. Pierre and Condit’s comments after the jump.

(Anderson Silva will be watching this one with great interest. / Photo via MMAJunkie)

Georges St. Pierre‘s 19-month hiatus from the Octagon is one of the reasons why MMA kind of sucked this year. But the UFC welterweight champion is back in the saddle tonight in Montreal against interim champ Carlos Condit, so come a little bit closer baby, get it on, get on, ’cause tonight is the night when two belts become one.

In the co-main event, Martin Kampmann battles Johny Hendricks for a potential title shot against the winner of St. Pierre vs. Condit. Plus: This clown, that weirdo, and Mark Hominick‘s must-win featherweight scrap against Pablo Garza. [Note: Nick Ring was supposed to fight Constantinos Philippou on the main card, but fell ill today and wasn't cleared to compete. Mark Bocek vs. Rafael Dos Anjos was promoted to the main card from the prelims.]

Guiding us through the proceedings is liveblogger-supreme Aaron Mandel Ben Goldstein!, who will be throwin’ down round-by-round results from the UFC 154 pay-per-view main card beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and let your voices be heard loudly and proudly in the comments section.

MMA Fighting interviewed Dana White yesterday and BLAF, per usual, had lots to talk about. Check out the video above for the full interview.

Dana White says that the UFC isn’t looking past Carlos Condit even though, you know, if St. Pierre wins tonight at UFC 154 he will definitely fight Anderson Silva and Dana has a month in mind and three possible locations for the fight to happen (May, in either Toronto, Brazil or Dallas). If Condit wins, however, he’ll take on the winner of Martin Kampmann vs. Johny Hendricks.

The UFC President also describes what he says is St. Pierre’s extra nervousness and irritability this week. For example, White says St. Pierre is refusing to touch people for fear of getting sick. Interesting.

Speaking of sick, White talks about being sick and tired of guys like Dan Henderson pulling out of fights and complaining about Chael Sonnen getting title shots. Oh yeah, Dana says that Cyborg is ducking Ronda Rousey. Its a good view and listen, so check out the full video to help you wait for UFC 154 tonight.

- Elias Cepeda

We brought you episode 1 and 2 earlier and now the third and final episode of the latest UFC Primetime documentary mini-series is out. Tonight, Georges St. Pierre and Carlos Condit fight at UFC 154 to decide the one and only world welterweight champion.

UFC Primetime brings you into the final moments of their respective camps as they train for the biggest fight of their careers. Condit talks about the motivation his young son gives him and St. Pierre and his team ponder the effects of his long lay off.

Oh yeah, Anderson Silva shows up in Montreal along with Condit and St. Pierre to fuck with everyone’s head. Between fighting in St. Pierre’s home town and the money the UFC can make off of a super fight between GSP and “The Spider” I’d be real nervous about my chances of winning a decision at UFC 154 tonight if I were Carlos Condit.

In any case, check out all of this great Primetime series, tune in to UFC 154 tonight and join us for our play by play coverage.

- Elias Cepeda

(Kru Phil Nurse on the left with his student, Georges St. Pierre)

By Elias Cepeda

Despite being one of the very best trainers in MMA, Phil Nurse gets relatively little press and up until now very little has been publicly known about his life, careers and philosophies. He coaches Georges St. Pierre, Frankie Edgar and Jon Jones, just to name a few UFC fighters.

As we discovered when we visited Nurse at his downtown Manhattan gym, however, the Kru is much more than his impressive resume. He is a combat genius and is able to convey his unique perspective and vision to his students with calm clarity. It is no wonder that some of the best fighters in the world seek him out to become even better.

With Georges St. Pierre returning to action after a year and a half at UFC 154 this Saturday in Montreal, it is a perfect time to hear from one of his coaches and corner men in Nurse. After the jump, sit with us and listen to the newest episode of The Conversation where Nurse talk about his unlikely path to Muay Thai, his own fighting career, meeting Georges St. Pierre and the spirituality that can be found through fight training.

(Watch the UFC 154: St-Pierre vs. Condit weigh-ins right here, starting at 4:00 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT. Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

- UFC 154 Fight Week Notes, Quotes and Stats (MMAFighting)

- Georges St-Pierre: ‘I Have A Hard Time Watching Girls Fighting’ (Fightline)

- Carlos Condit and 9 UFC Fighters Who Are Unfairly Criticized (BleacherReport)

- Fighter/pimp Shonie Carter with one of his investment-properties, circa 2001 (Facebook.com/CagePotato)

- For the Hardcore MMA Fans Out There, Check Out This Amazing Dan Quinn Compilation (MiddleEasy)

- Dana White: Silva vs. St. Pierre Superfight Could Happen In May (HeavyMMA)

- Bulk Up Without Lifting a Weight (MensFitness)

- 20 Awkward Things Women Do After Sex (Complex)

- 5 Reasons Modern Horror Movies Suck (EgoTV)

- Turkey Tits? Turkey Tits. (WorldWideInterweb)

- Razor Tales: Legends the Barbershop (MadeMan)

- The Fleshlight Box Incident (HolyTaco)

- The Fleshlight Box Incident: Aftermath (HolyTaco, again)